Cameron Dive First Attempt in Over 50 Years

National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence and Filmmaker James Cameron plans to soon dive in a specially designed submarine to the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean, earth's deepest point. No human has attempted such a dive since 1960.

Cameron Dive First Attempt in Over 50 Years

National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence and Filmmaker James Cameron plans to soon dive in a specially designed submarine to the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean, earth's deepest point. No human has attempted such a dive since 1960.

You can get a sense of how thick the steel is… in the hatch. To withstand the pressure at that depth.

This is a steel sphere.. this is where the pilot goes.

TEXT: Inside, the pilot must keep his knees bent and cannot extend his arms.

We’ve got the fact that when you’re diving 7 miles down and back up 7 miles in a big empty ocean, The sub may not return to where it’s supposed to be. And the search and recovery crew will have to find it and get you out.

TEXT: The pilot is literally bolted inside.

You can’t get out. We may complete the dive, get all the way in and out to the surface, and have a potential hazard on the surface of being trapped inside the sub.

TEXT: The risks …

Yeah, of course I’m worried. Worry is a good thing When you’re an explorer. I think when you’re cavalier, when you take risk for granted, That’s when you’re going to get bitten.

TEXT: What will he see?

TEXT: Drop cameras have given us only a glimpse of what can be seen on the way down …

We know we’;re going to see very strange animals.. . like amphipods …. Other kinds of invertebrates.

TEXT: and of what’s at the bottom.

But science can’t answer one very basic question … Are there fish?

They think maybe not, because the calcium in their bones actually would dissolve at those extreme pressures.

TEXT: He’ll take samples with a mechanical arm and capture video …

The idea here is to prove that this machine and these new technologies can provide a platform for science.

Cameron Dive First Attempt in Over 50 Years

National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence and Filmmaker James Cameron plans to soon dive in a specially designed submarine to the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean, earth's deepest point. No human has attempted such a dive since 1960.